The present invention relates to a portable food container with incorporated heaters and more particularly pertains to a device which has several compartments for containing food, which allows foods to be independently heated prior to consumption.
The use of portable food containers is known in the prior art. More specifically, portable food containers heretofore devised and utilized for the purpose of holding food items for eating at a remote location are known to consist basically of familiar, expected and obvious structural configurations, notwithstanding the myriad of designs encompassed by the crowded prior art which have been developed for the fulfillment of countless objectives and requirements.
By way of example, U.S. Pat. No. 4,630,671 to Sherman discloses a lunch box capable of holding freezable liquid for cooling and an electrically powered heating element for warming and includes a temperature control device. U.S. Pat. No. 5,065,867 to Alfredson and U.S. Pat. No. 5,485,921 to Tolendano disclose lunch boxes capable of maintaining separate food items as different temperatures.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,808,301 to Wright et al. And U.S. Pat. No. 4,037,081 to Aldridge et al. both disclose electrically heated lunch containers. However, Aldridge does not allow a user to selectively control the heating its individual compartments. In addition, neither Wright et al. nor Aldridge disclose any way to automatically control the heating time.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,385,952 to Mix appears to disclose an electrically heated lunch kit, which employs a timer to control the heating cycle of the contents. However, there is no provision to activate the heating at a predetermined time so that the food will be heated at xe2x80x9clunch timexe2x80x9d.
While these devices fulfill their respective, particular objective and requirements, the aforementioned patents do not describe a portable food container with an incorporated heater for allowing foods to be heated prior to consumption.
In this respect, the portable food container with incorporated heater according to the present invention substantially departs from the conventional concepts and designs of the prior art, and in doing so provides an apparatus primarily developed for the purpose of allowing foods to be heated prior to consumption.
Therefore, it can be appreciated that there exists a continuing need for a new and improved portable food container with an incorporated heater which can be used for allowing foods to be heated prior to consumption. In this regard, the present invention substantially fulfills this need.
In the view of the foregoing disadvantages inherent in the known types of portable food containers now present in the prior art, the present invention provides an improved portable food container with incorporated heaters. As such, the general purpose of the present invention, which will be described subsequently in greater detail, is to provide a new and improved portable food container with an incorporated heater which has all the advantages of the prior art and none of the disadvantages.
It is a primary object of the invention to provide a portable food container which provides at least two heating compartments, and allows the heating of those compartments to be controlled, both in heating intensity and activation time of day.
To attain this, the present invention essentially comprises a container portion having a generally rectangular configuration. The container portion has an open upper end, a closed lower end, a front wall, a back wall, and opposed side walls. The container portion includes a first cover member hingeably coupled with the back wall for covering the open upper end. The first cover member is insulated. The container portion includes a second cover member hingeably coupled with the back wall for covering the first cover member and the open upper end. The second cover member has a generally semi-cylindrical cross-section for containing a thermos bottle therein. The second cover member and the front wall have corresponding latches to lock the second cover member over the open upper end. The second cover member has a handle extending upwardly therefrom. At least two heating elements are disposed within the closed lower end of the container portion. The heating elements have connectors for coupling with power sources. The connectors include a standard electrical outlet connector and a vehicle cigarette light connector. Three insulated receptacles are removably positioned within the container portion. Two of the receptacles are hot food receptacles and one of the receptacles is a cold food receptacle. The hot food receptacles are each in contact with one of the heating elements. A control panel is disposed within one of the opposed side walls of the container portion. The control panel is in communication with the heating element for controlling an activation time and duration of heat generated by each heating element.
There has thus been outlined, rather broadly, the more important features of the invention in order that the detailed description thereof that follows may be better understood, and in order that the present contribution to the art may be better appreciated. There are, of course, additional features of the invention that will be described hereinafter and which will form the subject matter of the claims appended hereto.
In this respect, before explaining at least one embodiment of the invention in detail, it is to be understood that the invention is not limited in its application to the details of construction and to the arrangements of the components set forth in the following description or illustrated in the drawings. The invention is capable of other embodiments and of being practiced and carried out in various ways. Also, it is to be understood that the phraseology and terminology employed herein are for the purpose of description and should not be regarded as limiting.
As such, those skilled in the art will appreciate that the conception, upon which this disclosure is based, may readily be utilized as a basis for the designing of other structures, methods and systems for carrying out the several purposes of the present invention. It is important, therefore, that the claims be regarded as including such equivalent constructions insofar as they do not depart from the spirit and scope of the present invention.
It is therefore an object of the present invention to provide a new and improved portable food container with incorporated heaters that has all the advantages of the prior art portable food containers and none of the disadvantages.
It is another object of the present invention to provide a new and improved portable food container with incorporated heaters that may be easily and efficiently manufactured and marketed.
It is a further object of the present invention to provide a new and improved portable food container with incorporated heaters that is of durable and reliable construction.
An even further object of the present invention is to provide a new and improved portable food container with incorporated heaters which is susceptible to a low cost of manufacture with regard to both materials and labor, and which accordingly is then susceptible to low prices of sale to the consuming public, thereby making such a portable food container with incorporated heaters economically available to the buying public.
Even still another object of the present invention is to provide a new and improved portable food container with incorporated heaters for allowing foods to be automatically heated prior to the time of anticipated consumption.
Lastly, it is an object of the present invention to provide a new and improved portable food container with incorporated heaters including a container portion having an open upper end, a closed lower end, a front wall, a back wall, and opposed side walls. The container portion includes a first cover member hingeably coupled with the back wall for covering the open upper end. The first cover member is insulated. The container portion includes a second cover member hingeably coupled with the back wall for covering the first cover member and the open upper end. The second cover member contains a thermos bottle therein. At least two heating elements are disposed within the closed lower end of the container portion. The heating elements have connectors for coupling with power sources. Three insulated receptacles are removably positioned within the container portion. Two of the receptacles are hot food receptacles and one of the receptacles is a cold food receptacle. The hot food receptacles are in contact with the heating element. A control panel is disposed within one of the opposed side walls of the container portion. The control panel is in communication with the heating elements for controlling the activation and duration of heat generated by the heating element.
These together with other objects of the invention, along with the various features of novelty which characterize the invention, are pointed out with particularity in the claims annexed to and forming a part of this disclosure. For a better understanding of the invention, its operating advantages and the specific objects attained by its uses, reference should be had to the accompanying drawings and descriptive matter in which there are illustrated preferred embodiments of the invention.